From the beginning of the Africa Centres of Excellence (ACE) Project in 2013, the National Project Coordination Secretariat at the National Universities Commission (NUC) has been proactive in coordinating the activities of the ACEs in Nigeria, to ensure that the centres operate within the guidelines of the project. The National ACE Project Coordination Secretariat is responsible for national facilitation, training, and supervision in fiduciary aspects as well as national M&E and minor Technical Assistance. The Secretariat also supports the ACE project by assisting the Regional Facilitation Unit (RFU) in implementing component 2 of the project, including regional project coordination, monitoring and evaluation and tertiary education support to non-ACE countries, as well as providing Monitoring and Evaluation support to the Nigerian ACEs in particular. The Project Secretariat is in constant liaison with the 10 ACEs in Nigeria, giving and receiving updates to ensure that the ACEs are carried along.

The secretariat has carried out series of activities since becoming effective, including the post-effectiveness workshop in August 2015, the capacity enhancement and sustainability workshop in January 2016, hosting the revenue generation workshop organized for the ACE by the RFU in February 2016, and the meeting of the Librarians of the universities hosting the 10 ACEs to take advantage of the free Ebsco host resources in June 2016, amongst others. The ACE Nigeria website is one stop shop for all you need to know about the ACE project in Nigeria. I therefore urge you to visit the individual sites to be better informed in what the centres are doing towards addressing the challenges confronting the African continent.

The Africa Centres of Excellence (ACE) Project was instituted in 2013 by the governments of Burkina Faso, Republic of Benin, Ghana, Cameroun, Nigeria, Togo and Senegal, with support from the World Bank. The project was initiated to promote regional specialization amongst Universities in the participating countries within the West and Central African sub-regions, to address common regional development challenges and strengthen their capacities to deliver high quality training and applied research. The National Universities Commission (NUC) is the focal point and the secretariat of the ACE project in Nigeria. The ACE Project Nigeria has constituted the National Project Performance Review Committee (NPPRC), whose membership is made up of representatives of the relevant Ministries, the Centre Leaders of the ACEs, and the World Bank as observer.

The NPPRC is tasked with semi-annual review of project performance and implementation support. Nigeria is home to ten (10) out of the twenty-two (22) Africa Centres of Excellence (ACEs) in the West and Central African sub-regions. The ACEs fall within three thematic areas, namely: Agriculture, Health, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). All the 10 ACEs in Nigeria are fully effective and have since focused on achieving the goals of the project which aims at firstly, meeting the demand for skills required for the development of the sub-region and secondly, strengthening the capacities of the best African Universities within science related education to enable them deliver high quality training and applied research. We must remember that technology has indeed redefined the way we live, and we are in an era of regional integration where focus is on meeting the demand for skills required for the development of the sub-region, as well as strengthening the capacities of our universities to enable them deliver high quality training and applied research, especially in science related education. This is what the ACE project seeks to promote. I therefore invite you to use this website to further understand what these Centres of Excellence are doing in addressing the development challenges of the African region.

ACE Profile

ACE is a regional higher education project designed to promote regional specialisation among participating Universities within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Agriculture and Health areas, that addresses particular common regional development challenge as well as strengthen the capacities of these Universities to deliver high quality training and applied research.